Manoj Chowdhury v. State Of West Bengal And ANR

01.02.2024 Item No.54 Ct. No. 29 PG/KS Rejected C.R.M.(A) 5294 of 2023 In Re:- An application for anticipatory bail under Section 438 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in connection with Mothabari Police Station Case No.388 of 2023 dated 28.10.2023 under Sections 448/376 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. And In the matter of : Manoj Chowdhury ......Petitioner.

Mr. Mrityunjoy Chatterjee Mr. Debapriya Majumder Mr. Akash Sarkar Mr. Arindam Paole ....for the Petitioner. Mr. Abhra Mukherjee Ms. Kumkum Mitra ....for the State.

Petitioner prays for anticipatory bail.

Learned advocate for the petitioner submits that there is a delay of about a month in the lodgment of the First Information Report.

Learned advocate for the State draws the attention of the Court to the statement of the victim recorded under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure as well as the statements recorded under section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the other persons in which the victim implicates the petitioner for the offence of rape.

Her version stands corroborated by eye witnesses recording statements under section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Such statements suggest that they saw the petitioner to flee away from the place of occurrence.

Considering the gravity of the offence and the involvement of the petitioner as transpiring from the materials in the case diary, we are unable to grant anticipatory bail to the petitioner. Accordingly, C.R.M.(A) 5294 of 2023 is rejected (Debangsu Basak, J.) (Md. Shabbar Rashidi, J.)